River Tank Manifold?

[VickiandKev]

Anyone got a river tank manifold in their tank or know anything about them?

When I make my 10ft aquarium for my clown loaches I want to put one in BUT just wondering whether it's suitable for my other stock (in my sig) - there will also be 6 geophagus altifrons.

 

[dave_oddballs]

if this is what im thinking i would be interested in the same kind of thing, so the water is constantly running in one end and out the other? like a flowing river? would have to have a big sump and a pretty powerful collection of pumps to make a 10 footer flow!
the way i would do it is make the 2 ends of the tank lower than the front and back and this would be the overflow and outlet, to make it flow properly you would have to have the whole end of the tank acting like a big strainer but then you'd have all your fish stuck to 1 end of the tank! obviously on the ends of the tank you'd have them topped with the plastic combs to stop fish getting swept over, like you would with a wier.

 

[VickiandKev]

http/www.loaches.com/articles/my-clown-loach-aquarium

That's where I found the idea - I was thinking something just like that except for my 10 x 3, I would probably need 3 x sponge intakes and 3 x powerful pumps at the other end.

I'd then have a sump as well as this, and that would be flowing focussed at the water's surface to make ripples

OMG I just had the funniest vision of all my fish stuck to the end looking at me like through plastic combs
I think Kev would flip out if I suggested having water freely overflowing lol - he's only just about agreed to a sump with a piped in overflow at a height so that the sump wouldn't get flooded even in a power cut lol!

Although, I'd need to experiment with the idea because my geophagus will be sifting sand and they might find this hard if they're constantly battling against the current!

 

[dave_oddballs]

i didn't meen just randomly overflowing the side of the tank lol, like the ends would be lower and then the water would run into a compartment with pipes in the bottom leading to a sump, like an exterior overflow box / wier if you will, think thats the only way you would get close to imitating a running river, a can't see that idea in that clown loach tank being much like a river, especially with them little powerheads, would have to be a decent sized pump, or 4, taking the water from one end and chucking it back in at the other.

 

[VickiandKev]

i didn't meen just randomly overflowing the side of the tank lol

Blonde

I'm going to try out the pump thing though, possibly in a smaller tank, TBH for my lot it doesn't need to be fast flowing really ... but it would be nice to have a steady flow.

 

[dave_oddballs]

don't you think it would be good to have a section of a fast flowing river in a tank? its something i've thought about for a long time, not just when i saw this. you would have really fast flow and then boulder like stones and drift wood where the fish would rest behind as they would in the wild, it seems to me an exciting project!